Disclaimer: We would like to make it clear that we IN NO WAY own or claim to own, or any rights to, or any trademarks of any characters recognizable from the Harry Potter series by Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Or any trademarks, rights to, express or implied, to the Calgary Board of Education, or anything else at all you may recognize from anywhere else.
We also in no way own Ransom Jr. High or any teachers therein. ALL THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY THAT ARE NOT FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES WERE EXTRACTED FROM REAL LIFE AND ARE BASED ON REAL PEOPLE. PLEASE DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH THEM, FOR WHATEVER REASON YOUR TWISTED MIND MAY THINK OF. Names have been changed to "protect" the not-so-innocent.
Neither do we mean to upset any supporters of the Canadian Alliance. If you support them, don't read this!
A/N: I wrote this with Jabberwocky, so if you recognize her style of writing, that'll be why.
Chapter 10
The weeks passed, and the various students became rather good dancers, if you stopped to think about it and bulldozed past a bit of modesty. Finally, dance class was, for all intents and purposes, over, since it was about a week away from Christmas, which meant that some guys were scrambling to get "dates" for the New Year's Eve Ball. Or the NYEB, as some GATE girls called it. Kailie had found enough mistletoe to cover the whole school, and had somehow covered the ceilings of the hallways with it, leaving only the Great Hall (she couldn't reach the ceiling), the dorms and common rooms (couldn't get access) the teacher's rooms (ditto), small patches of some hallways and all of the classrooms (she ran out of mistletoe). It was quite the uh, interesting experience getting around the school. Most GATE kids (and a large percentage of wizards as well) went around the halls commando-style. (This means that they ran from clear spot to clear spot, and peered around corners before running to another clear spot). Except Tugger and Kailie, who were seen kissing in the halls whenever they had the chance. Dumbledore still hadn't taken any of the GATE kids to get their wands yet. It was making classes a little bit exasperating, although it did test the resourcefulness of the students a bit. Classes that contained GATE kids were definitely interesting, at any rate. For example, instead of utilizing the crystal balls in Divinations (which only worked if you had a wand, and even then were still pretty finicky), they used fortune-telling watches (Ayter had a watch that never lied, he had asked it once, and it said so), and piece-of-crap "magic" 8-balls and fortune-telling erasers and the like. Most of the GATEs had seen how the tea leaves, palm reading and wax-in-water methods worked, but they felt that those forms of fortune telling were actually somewhat laughable. In any case they thought the watches, 8-balls, and erasers were more useful and truthful, because all they could say was yes, no, and maybe (or the equivalent).
Over-active imaginations helped a little as well, although Lily's prediction that the minute everyone got to the bottom of the ladder leading to Divinations they'd be scarred for life was actually based on reality, believe it or not. The prediction came true, mostly because as she'd come in she'd seen Kirk T. and Pansy making out on the floor and had shot up the ladder as fast as she could before she saw anything else mentally and emotionally damaging. Other classmates weren't quite so lucky. Many students (mostly GATEs) spent the rest of the day huddled in corners shuddering.
Other classes, though, still worked technically without a wand. Kait, thinking this might be the case, tried to make Wingardium Leviosa work on a feather, saying the words in her head and concentrating on the feather floating. On opening her eyes after ten minutes of hard thinking, the feather was floating in front of her nose. With practice she got better and faster, and of course, knowing it was possible, all the other GATEs did it too. Wands are just easier, you see, not necessary. Except for Crystal Reading and opening windows.
During their spare time, many of the GATE kids rampaged about the school, exploring. This revealed several secret passageways that not even the Marauders had known about, and helped them avoid the rabid mistletoe in the hallways. Once Lily found one that led to the various common rooms. She tipped off her friends, and they used it to spy on people (if they were bored), and sneak into common rooms to set up pranks. Once they attacked the Slytherin common room, and the next day the Slytherins woke up to find their common room was painted all over with red, gold, purple, and the occasional obscene picture of, say, Malfoy or Snape. Certain GATE girls high-fived each other and snickered/giggled evilly when they got to the Great Hall. However, the "downside" of these secret passageways was that various wizard boys (guess who) found it difficult to find their crushes to ask them to the Ball. Some GATE kids refused to think of it as a "ball" and referred to it as a "school dance". For example, Lily looked disgusted every time someone mentioned the "ball", and discussed with her friends how she'd probably be the only one wearing pants. Again. Or she was planning on it, but Kait tipped Terry off that bribing girls into wearing dresses had worked before, and maybe it'd work again. Thus, Kait and Terry showed up in front of Lily one day just before the holidays, and offered her 20 galleons so she'd wear a dress. The last person (Jody) had gotten 5 dollars. Lily accepted.
A little later in the day, Airinne was walking down the halls, trying to find someone to rant to. She walked down one hall, and found Draco Malfoy standing there menacingly.
"Will you go to the-" he started, but Airinne cut him off.
"I have a black belt… with a really heavy buckle!" she yelled, going into a karate defensive stance (the kind you see in cheesy kung-fu movies), then running away with her nose in the air. In doing so she almost smacked into Neville.
"Hey, Airinne! I've b-been looking for y-you!" he said.
"You have? Cool!" she answered. Not because she knew Neville, but because she liked being looked for.
"W-willyougototheballwithme?" he asked.
"Okie-day" she said, casually, and walked off. After turning the corner, she realized what had just happened. So she was going to the dance with Neville, eh? OK. That was cool. She found Fiona, and started ranting, but Fiona was sighing and sniffing a rose.
"Ahh, you're getting high!" Airinne exclaimed. Always Miss Subtle.
"Not yet. It'll probably kick in soon. Anyway, I have such a big crush on George now! I found this sweet candle with his pictures all over it, and there was a note saying he loved me! And so I love him now too. He just asked me to the dance," Fiona said.
"Coolies. Candle, eh? Betcha that was Kait's idea… remember last year's?"
"Oh yeah… that Ohad candle was hot, but this year's is better. They move! And the guy loves me!"
"Happy days! I'm going to the ball with Neville."
"Cool! Neville. Wheee - ooh, rose is kicking in now, let's go get high!"
"OK!" and off the two girls went to get very "high". (Note: no one really gets high, they just like to think they do. In reality, they just get extremely hyper.) Off rose scent. By the end of the hour, they were sitting in a corner acting very strangely, and Lily and Siri had joined them.
Kait, at the time the others were getting high, was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, drawing pictures and gabbing with Ginny. She was actually drawing miscellaneous Harry Potter characters, but leaving out definitive items such as scars. Or, in the case of the vast majority of pictures, those of Ron, she just didn't colour them or tell Ginny who they were. However, Ginny left when Ron decided to sit by Kait. Ginny was Ron's favorite sibling, and they'd gotten a lot closer since Ginny started hanging out with, and, since the day dance began (Harry was learning to be quicker about these things), dating his best friend. He had, of course told her about his crush, and asked her what to do. She knew to leave now.
"Hiya, Kait,"
"Hey, Ron" Kait replied, stuffing the pictures under the coffee table.
"So… how's life?"
"It's good…" she was feeling a little weird… Ron was staring at her freakily… he almost touched her, but put his hand down and blushed. That, oddly enough, broke the tension. Kait relaxed.
"What's up, Ron? Got a date for the dance yet?" this was a fairly safe topic, it was all most people were talking about anyway.
"Not… not yet, you?" he was looking at her again…
"Nope."
"Asking anyone?"
"Not planning to."
"What would you do if someone asked you?"
Kait eyed him suspiciously… what was up with Ron…? "Depends on who would ask… anyone you were thinking of?"
"Heh, yeah, actually…"
"Well who? Like, I want a date, of course, but I don't like to get them, it's not worth it unless I'm head-over-heels."
"You don't have a crush on anyone?" Ron was astounded. He had always had a crush on somebody, from the first time he saw his little next-door-neighbour.
"Nope. I don't have too many crushes. Crush impaired, you see. Quite annoying."
"OK… well I do. And I intend to ask her to the ball."
"Good for you!"
"So, Kait, will you to the ball with me, as, I hope, my girlfriend?"
"WHAT?"
All Ron could do was blink. That's not the sort of question you answer.
"Ron … Ron … I can't … can I think … I'll go to Ginny's dorm … Ron, I'm not ready … if you knew … oh I can't … I couldn't ever do that to him" tears were openly streaming down Kait's face now. She couldn't bear it. She'd been depressed, inwardly, since she'd gone, and left him behind … there were few who knew … Jody did … Jody had been there when they cried together …
"Kait! Kait, what's wrong, what did I do?" Ron, looked dismayed as he held Kait's shoulders and looked into the face twisted with emotional agony.
"You, Ron? You didn't do anything … I did. I screwed it up for myself. I had eternal happiness in my hands, and when I came here, when I came here I had to let him go … but I can't …" Kait broke free of Ron's grip and ran upstairs to the dorms of the 4th year Gryffindor girls, where she found Ginny and Jody talking in low voices.
"Kait! What's wrong? Did he ask you?" Ginny asked, seeing the grief on her friend's face. Jody just had a look of sad understanding on her face.
"He - he asked … and I can't … oh, Ginny, can you tell him I don't know … Judo, what do I do?" Kait looked pleading, and was using the nickname a great friend of the two had given Jody.
"You're still in love with - with the Other, aren't you?" Jody asked.
"Yes … it was all I could do to leave him, and I can't … I can't … he was the only person I ever loved …" Kait broke down into sobs again. Ginny looked bewildered.
"Ginny … go talk to Ron, I'll help her … she had to leave someone she loved very, very much behind when she came here … and his name's still scrawled all over her heart in black sharpie, isn't it, Kait?" Jody said. Kait nodded. Ginny flew down the stairs to a confused Ron.
"What did I say?" Ron asked his sister.
"Nothing, it's not your fault … she just can't pick between wizard and Muggle at the moment. She'll be down … wizard will prevail, you'll see," Ginny answered.
The brother and sister sat in tense silence, waiting for Kait to appear. Finally, she did, wiping her face of tears. "Alright, Ron, I'll - I'll go to the ball with you. More, more I can't promise you…" Kait still looked very sad and pained.
Ron smiled a dazzling smile at her and charged up the stairs to her. "Thanks, Kait - thanks for giving me a chan - ugh, it's Quidditch time, isn't it? Will you come with me?"
"OK … OK, I will …" Kait offered a smile. Ron bent to kiss her (as he was about 9 inches taller), but she shrunk away.
"Don't … please don't."
"OK …" and Ron and Kait walked out towards the Quidditch pitch.
On their way out, they passed the girls sniffing happily in the corner.
"Hey! Kait! And… ha, ha! I knew it! I knew it!" Siri laughed loudly. Kait raised her eyebrows. "OK, then, Siri… better cut back on how much rose you're sniffing… and anyway, you're a beater, come on! Quidditch!" "Oh yeah. Since when do you care?"
"Since today, duh."
"Oh, OK." Siri ran ahead, she still had to change. Kait spent the next half-hour shouting happily at the Gryffindor Quidditch team with Ginny on the benches. Fiona came out a little later, to watch George. When Quidditch practice was finally over, Kait, Fiona and Ginny went down to the doors of the Gryffindor change rooms. Kait fell in beside Ron when everyone came out, which earned the two some raised eyebrows. They raised their own back.
However, the sight of his little brother and twin talking to the people who were obviously their girlfriends, and his little sister simply staring in awe at Harry, Fred was feeling a little left out. He was practically the only person on the team without a girlfriend or boyfriend. The chasers all had boyfriends, but Fred didn't care who they were. The only person on the team other than him who didn't seem to be dating someone was his fellow beater, Siri. Ron was the new keeper, of course. Of course he (Fred) knew who he'd like to date. But for some reason he was kind of intimidated by the younger girl strolling confidently beside him, borrowed broom over her shoulder. He shook his head. He was Fred Weasley, the more outspoken of the two very outspoken twins. And yet, he was the only kid in his family at Hogwarts who wasn't tied up at the moment. And to top it off, he had a crush, and she was walking right beside him. This had to end. He would not stand for it. He stuck out his arm and clothes-lined Siri. She stumbled a bit, and everyone else looked at them. It wasn't every practice the beater clothes-lined his partner-in-beating. A stunned Siri looked at Fred with eyebrows raised.
"Siri, will you be my girlfriend and go to the ball with me?" Fred asked.
"Uhhh," she paused, thinking. "I'll go to the ball with you…"
"Yess!" Fred pumped his fist jubilantly. Siri looked at him funny.
When they actually got inside, all the other girls who hadn't been at the practice showed up, and, naturally they started talking about the dance and their dates. Lily walked by.
"What up?"
"Siri and Fred are going to the dance together," Kait said, she and Siri bright red "and I'm going with Ron. Are you going with Ter - I mean, has anyone asked you yet?"
"Nope. I'm probably going stag. Jody's probably going stag too."
"No, I don't think so… I saw her with what's-his-name, Drake, yeah, and it looked to me like…"
"Great. This is the second time that's happened. At grade six grad I relied on her to wear pants too, but noo, she had to go and accept a stupid bribe to wear a dress, so I was the only girl wearing pants! And now I rely on her to be like the only other girl going stag, and what does she do? She GOES AND GETS A DATE! Argh! Oh well. I guess I'll just be the only girl going stag."
"OK."
Lily walked away then, because talk of boyfriends (as well as other mushy, touchy-feely stuff) made her somewhat nauseous. She walked past a seemingly empty hallway, and a hand shot out and grabbed her collar. She was dragged around the corner into that hallway, and was confronted with Terry's red face.
She looked at him inquisitively as she yanked her shirt back into place.
"Watch the shirt, Boot" she warned.
"Yeah. Hi. Look - I actually have a reason for dragging you in here."
"And that would be…?"
"Will you... would you maybe please go to the ball with me?" She shrugged.
"Yeah sure, why not."
"Woo hoo!" he exclaimed, and started kissing Lily, whose knee promptly shot upwards. Terry's eyes crossed and he uttered a sound that can only be described as "gnhi". He crumpled up and lay on the floor in fetal position, clutching his "broken balls".
"What the f*** was that for?? I said I'd go to the stupid dance with you, not be your goddam girlfriend!!!"
Terry gasped for air on the floor.
And with that, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the hallway and back to the other girls, who were still chattering away about how amazingly sweet their dates were. When Lily showed up, they all fell silent.
"Don't stop on my account," she said scathingly. "I'm sure you're all madly head over heels in love and as long as you can yabber on about how absolutely wonderful your 'sweetie' is, the rest of the world can go hang." Her lip curled in disgust.
"Anyway, not that you care, but it looks like I can't go stag anymore. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find something to beat into a soft, mushy pulp."
"I'm not his girlfriend …" Kait whispered, her tears returning.
Christmas Holidays were in full swing when, a few days later, at the single Great Hall table (the Dance wasn't till out-of-school hols ended, on the 31st of December), Dumbledore received a letter. Only a few people heard his gasp when he read it, because most GATE kids were staying, due to the airplane fare.
When Dumbledore was finished reading his letter, he tapped a surprised Harry (who'd had his arm around Ginny and been laughing hysterically at Siri's antics) on the shoulder and led him to his office.
"Harry, this is from Professor Snape. Voldemort is now active in Canada, and you'll have to start training to fight him off. I'm sorry to put this burden on you, but we need you, you're a very strong wizard, Harry. We'll also be recruiting a fair few of those GATE girls - they're all very ambitious and most have already mastered thought-magic, out of necessity. Of course, Ron and Hermione will be coming and Ginny too - she seems to have a strange connection with Voldemort. We may bring some more people too… when they reveal themselves as remarkable. Fred and George seem wise - while they're all fun and games, they're good wizards…"
"Yes, sir," said Harry.
"Good, good. The training will be long and hard, Harry, you know that? You will be learning very interesting and advanced magic, though. Are you up to it?"
"Yes, sir." Harry's face was set and grim.
"Alright. Go collect the GATE girls at the table, the Weasleys, Draco Malfoy - and Neville."
"Neville, sir?" Harry was a little surprised to hear Neville's name called.
"Yes, Neville."
"Whatever you say, sir." And Harry walked off down the stairs. When he got back into the Great Hall, everyone was laughing so hard at a joke he had trouble getting their attention. It sounded funny, if not coarse - the punch line had been "guano". Whatever the punch line, though, he simply had to get their attention. Eventually he whapped Ron over the head with Hermione's book. It worked.
"What in hell was that for?" Ron asked, indignantly, as Hermione gasped at his horrible language.
"Come on, help me round up all the GATE girls, your family, Ron, and Neville, and then drag them all up to Dumbledore's office with me!" Harry pleaded.
"OK," Ron and Hermione agreed. The way it worked out, most people told their girlfriend or boyfriend, and Hermione rounded up those without one. The result was that in five minutes they were leaving the Great Hall. Ten minutes after that, Harry whispered the password at the gargoyle, and a few minutes latter they were quietly knocking on the door to Dumbledore's chambers.
"Sir," said Dumbledore, "or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; but the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, and so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, that I scarce was sure I heard you" -here he opened wide the door; - children there, and nothing more! Siri was laughing, clutching her stomach. "Quoth the hippo, 'Screw you!'" was audible between guffaws.
"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry, I was napping, you see, and-"
"You were scarcely sure you heard us. We know!" said Lily.
"Yes, well, come in. I'll explain everything," Dumbledore explained. All the children, who had finished entreating entrance at his chamber door, bounded into Dumbledore's circular office-type-room-thing. Most of them found a seat, but Fiona and a few other girls were fawning over Fawkes. A few a-hems from Dumbledore brought them reluctantly to their seats. Since Dumbledore didn't quite have enough chairs for everyone to be able to sit down, Lily remained standing and leaned on his desk, upon which Siri was sitting.
"Today at breakfast I received a letter. It was from Professor Snape, who is our undercover agent in Voldemort's forces -"
"We know! We read you talking to him at the end of last year, and we heard you talking to him this year!" squeaked Kait.
"Good. So you know he's in Canada, being a double agent for us. Well, I got that letter from him. It said that Voldemort is gaining his already large hold on the Canadian Government - particularly the new opposition party, the Canadian Alliance. Maybe I should explain how Muggle and Wizard politics interact in Canada, it's different than here. In Canada, the wizards make much more use of Muggle conveniences than we do. They have TVs and microwaves and computers, and toasters and boom boxes and listen to Muggle and Wizard music. Well, the two have the same politicians. In each party there are at least one or two Magical members, and of course, the leader, if he isn't a wizard, knows about wizards and magic. Thus, they can eliminate the need for a minister of magic, though most governments have a Muggle-Proof Magical department. Right now, all the Party Leaders - except Stockwell Day, of course, are wizards. No Canadian Alliance members are wizards, actually. Well, Voldemort decided that he was going to give up on England, because we're prepared and we've beaten him all those times, and go over and try to take over Canada first. So, the natural way was through politics. He was actually the one who convinced that idiotic aspiring Prime Minister, Stockwell Day, to form the Canadian Alliance. Voldemort has been controlling him through the Imperius Curse all this time. Anyway, if the Canadian Alliance ever wins an election…"
"That will be the sound of inevitability," finished Siri.
"Um, in a word, yes," said Dumbledore, a little confused, never having seen The Matrix before. "And you are here because we need you to go to Canada and help us completely disassemble the Canadian Alliance."
"Ooh, now this is gonna be good" said Kaitlyn, and impish grin forming on her face.
"Of course, we can't just send you now. You have to be trained and taught all sorts of things before we can let you go. I wouldn't normally ask children to do this, but presently there aren't many adults we can trust. You all are the best witches and wizards here, and of course, having the Canadians will help a lot. You'll be sent to Alberta when you're done training - that's where Doris - I mean, Stockwell Day has set up headquarters. Er, where Voldemort has set up headquarters. Only Albertans would vote for Doris - Stockwell!" Dumbledore finished, rather irritated at making such a strange mistake twice. "You'll all have to come up here when morning classes end every day - don't worry, I'll provide lunch."
Training commenced immediately after this little chat, and Dumbledore was surprised (not) to find that the students were progressing at a much faster rate than expected, flying through their advanced courses (Arithmancy, Runes, Herbology, Potions, Charms, and everything in between including History of Magic, which was actually rather interesting, mostly because Binns wasn't teaching it. Dumbledore was). After a while, a (relatively) small group of girls got together and decided to try out a little something on their own.
"We need a book. A book. Books are good."
"Well yeah, but have you seen the library lately? WHICH BOOK?"
"Uhh… see, now, this is what we gotta find out"
"Let's ask Hermione. She'd know"
"She'd tell." By this it becomes evident that the girls do NOT, in fact, have permission to be conducting this particular experiment, but since when has that stopped them?
"True."
"Ummmm…" They thought for a bit.
"Hey, you know we could just tell her it's like for a report in Transfigurations or something."
"True."
"D'you think she'd buy that?"
"Probably only if we told her it was for extra credit." The other girls nodded thoughtfully.
"But, all things considered, yeah I think she'd buy it. Either that or we could bug Amy to get us one." The girls thought about this for a little while, then:
"So shall we go bug Amy then?" Another girl nodded, and they all left the classroom to head for the library.
* * *
A few hours later, Siri, Airinne, Kait, Fiona, Joy, Lily and Jody were sitting around a table poring over a thick leather-bound book and quietly jotting down notes. After a bit they closed the book, returned it to the shelf on which they'd found it, and went up to the Gryffindor girls' dorm. There was the sound of cauldrons bubbling and pestles grinding things to a soft flaky powder. There was quiet muttering, and also the cheery sound of girls gossiping. There was a hissing noise as the powders were poured into the cauldrons, a soft 'poof!' and then, silence. Which was promptly broken by more silence.
"Well now. I don't think that worked out quite as planned, do you?" said Fiona.
"Hehe, Lily looks like she could star in Cats" Kait giggled.
"Yeah, well you look like you could star in the new Broadway musical 'Bunnies'!" Lily spat.
"Well there's no need to go around biting peoples heads off!" There was more silence.
"So, um, what do we do now?" There was some soft hooting.
"What the- oh. Hey, where's Airinne?" said Lily, who was now at least half black cat. Kait, who was now half human half white rabbit, gestured wordlessly towards one of the beds from which there drifted a gentle snoring. A half human, half grey hawk who looked suspiciously like Siri swept the curtains to the side, revealing an Airinne who was at least half bat hanging upside down from the 'ceiling' of the bed. "Hey, Airinne, wake up!" Airinne shifted slightly, mumbling something about the blood rushing to her head. Lily strode over, stumbled slightly as she was unused to having paws instead of feet, and quietly reached into a bag. Her hand emerged with a brand-new copy of the book The Vampire Lestat. She held it out carefully and gently waved it under (above?) Airinne's now rather prominent snout. Airinne's eyes flew open and she grabbed at the book. "Mine!" Lily snatched her hand back split seconds before Airinne's 'claws' touched the book. It fell to the mattress, and Airinne, still trying to snatch the book, lost her grip on the bed and fell face first onto the book. All of this happened so quickly as to be merely a blur in the eyes of a beholder.
"Ow!"
"Sorry Airinne," Lily helped her friend up, which was a little difficult because Airinne was still peering suspiciously at her while clutching the book to her chest.
"Hey, how'd you guys do that?" demanded Jody, who as you could probably guess was only half human at the moment. Her other half was peregrine falcon.
"Do what?" Airinne looked confused.
"That, you know, the reflex thingy" explained Siri. Airinne and Lily still looked confused. Then it looked almost as if lightbulbs had appeared and light up above their heads as they understood.
"Oh! That thing. No idea."
"But um, shouldn't we be wondering more about how we can get fully into one form before we start worrying about faster reflexes?"
"Probably" said Joy, who had now stopped hooting and had settled her half snowy owl, half human form on one of the other beds.
"But how 'bout we pick names first?" The other girls/animals/creatures looked at Siri blankly.
"You know, Black's other form has a different name, sort of like a code name. Why don't we have our own code names?"
"Yeah, sure, why not?"
"Okay. Um, mine's gonna be, um" Siri thought for a bit. "Storm!"
"Sounds good. Judes?" Jody (or Judes, as Lily liked to call her) pondered this for a while. "Um, Kellen."
"Jabberwocky" said Kait, causing the others to pause, stare at her for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Jabberwocky." Kait nodded enthusiastically.
"Alright then. Fiona?" Fiona, who had been totally silent up until now, was half human and half lion indicated that she wanted her name to be Nova. Joy and Airinne still undecided, so they then decided to try to figure out how to fully revert back to their human forms. They figured out how to complete the transformation, and discovered that by some odd fluke they could now go partway into the transformation. They didn't have to go all the way from one form to another thus there could be a talking rabbit, or a Joy with really good night vision (for example). If you think about it (which they did) this feature would be excellent for playing pranks on people.
The next day found Hermione gazing at a worn picture of Viktor Krum and sighing while Bart, Bruce and Tarn sang during Charms.
"When the moon's in your eye, like a big pizza-pie…" a handful of GATE's rolled their eyes.
"That's amoré!!!" Approximate translations of different languages are in normal brackets; amoré (love)
"Salut, mon ami."; (Hi, my friend.)
"Bonjour Lily. Comment ça va?" (Hello Lily. How are you?)
"Ça va bien. Et toi?" (I'm good. And you?)
"Ça va bien." (I'm good.)
"Ça c'est bon." (That is good.)
"Oui." (Yes.)
Lily nodded contemplatively, then asked, "So, what's up?"
"Nothing much. Oh, Herm's busy drooling over some pic of Krum."
"Really?" Lily's eyebrows rose. This was interesting. The sentry posted at the door called out a warning.
"Incoming!" Everyone promptly hunched over their books and looked like they were working hard as Flitwick strode into the room, tripping over robes that looked to be a few sizes too big. Lily and Kailie snickered quietly to themselves, exchanging a tiny high five under the table at Flitwick's troubled expression.
"Is there something wrong, professor?" asked Kailie. Lily ducked her head in an attempt to hide a smile.
"What? Oh, no. No, I'm quite alright." Flitwick answered distractedly.
"Are you sure? I mean, you look a lot smaller than you did yesterday," said Lily, her face innocent. Flitwick cried out in anguish.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
"Knew what?" his students looked puzzled.
"I'm shrinking!" he shrieked. He promptly ran out of the room, screaming something unintelligible.
In the meantime, Harry and Ron were busy learning lovely new spells and ways to defend themselves, when…
"I'M SHRINKING!!!" Professor Flitwick ran into the room, screaming hysterically.
Later, in detention:
"I can't believe Kirk would fink on us to McGonagall like that!"
"You can't???" Lily asked incredulously.
"Okay, well actually I can, but still!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean." They stopped talking for a while, concentrating on polishing the (it seemed like, at the very least) thousands of trophies in the trophy room. Lily started muttering to herself, her voice becoming a little louder and more passionate until Malfoy, walking past the door on his way to class, heard these words:
"…And I will have my revenge, in this life or the next!" He heard applause, and then hurried on, for fear that, a) he'd be late for class, and b) that she might be referring to him. In reality, she was quoting a speech by General Maximus Decimus Meridius of the Roman army in the movie Gladiator. It was also in reference to Kirk and Professor McGonagall.
"But how?" mused Kailie. There was a thoughtful pause, and then,
"I've got it!"
"What!?"
"Okay, here's what we'll do…" Lily's voice trailed off as she whispered the plan into Kailie's ear. Kailie's eyes widened as she listened attentively.
"It's brilliant!" They snickered evilly, and then set about refining the details as they polished the trophies.
* * *
December 24th 2001, a day which will live in infamy. Or not. At any rate, Lily and Siri were innocently wandering aimlessly around the school when Alex Gurdenhaus, a GATE student, rushed up to them with a carefully gift-wrapped box in his hands. "Here, give this to Kait for me." And off he went. Siri was left holding the box awkwardly, and they glanced back over their shoulders at Alex's retreating form. They looked back at each other and said, in perfect unison, "Not good." A few moments later they were cautiously presenting the package to Kaitlyn.
"A gift."
"From Alex." At this Kait turned pale with dismay.
"Are you sure? I mean, shouldn't he be over me by now…?"
"Apparently not, Kait."
"He ran up to us and said, 'Here, give this to Kait for me,' and, uh, yeah." At this point Ron walked up. "Who's that from?" he asked innocently.
"Alex Turd-enhaus. He's got it bad for poor Kait here." Kait just stared in dismay at the box in her hands.
"What?" asked Ron furiously.
"Alex Gurdenhaus is madly in love with poor Kait, and has been giving her presents since last Christmas," Lily explained. Ron looked furiously angry (also incredibly jealous) at that and rushed off, presumably to beat the living snot out of Alex. The girls watched him storm off. After a moment Kait shoved the box at Lily, saying simply, "Here, you open it."
A/N: Muchos gracias to everyone who reviewed (all eight of you)!!! Ok, coming up in like the next chapter (or maybe in the one after it, I don't remember) is the Yule Ball, and I think it may still be in the works. Or something. We'll figure it out eventually. Acknowledgements! (yes, I know some people haven't actually reviewed since like chapter two or three, but oh well)
me: GATE stands for Gifted And Talented Education. However, as we (we being everyone who knows anyone involved with the stupid program) all know, just because one is gifted, does NOT, I repeat, NOT, make them intelligent! Or smart or whatever.
Odd no-name person: you didn't leave a name!!! I mean, come ON, the least you could've done is put something like "blank" or "N/A"… ANYWAY! *salutes* sir! (or ma'am) yes, sir! (or ma'am) updates coming soon to a theatre near you! ;) (or not…)
Moving right along…
Mara456: glad you liked it. It came out of our own twisted minds (well, the Obi-wan and Yoda thing came out of Ravenclaw's, but that's ok. You probably don't care about that…), which shows you almost EXACTLY how crazed we are. I could be wrong though.
Krysta: hey, I know someone named krysta! You're probably not her, but still… I is glad that you enjoyed the trip into La-La Land. ;)
(notice these are all personalized and involve some stuff noone really cares about?)
Midknight Strike: yay, you reviewed! (no kidding!) very… uh… verbose, ain't ya? j/k. *hugz*
Lil Loki Puck: do I really need to say anything? You've reviewed… what, four times so far? As "Bruce" would say, "mucho, mucho!"
Sophie W: dude! Another GATE kid! Which school're you going to, and can I come beat on the freaks who want to get rid of the program? After all, lunatics are people too! Also, our nice teacher had to leave for the rest of the year, so then we got an evil teacher who doesn't know very much about, well, anything.
(has anybody else noticed that this story hasn't gotten any flames so far? *starts crying* you like us! You really like us! *pregnant silence filled only with the sound of crickets "singing"* ok, I'll shut up… soon. I promise!)
Kittycat: I've noticed most people think WSLE is weird. You among them. And yes, I know it's weird. The best part is, there really isn't a plot! Oh well. We're working on that part, trust us! *shifty eyes*
Thanx again to everyone who reviewed, and yes, we ARE, in fact, working on adding a plot. If anyone gets any ideas, please include them in a review (if it's a flame, then you can say something like "your story sux! Delete it!" Ravenwolf, at least, doesn't mind flames).
Please please please please PLEASE review!!!
PLEASE?